The Bacchae Analysis

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The Bacchae: the Balance Between Control and Freedom “The Bacchae” answers the question if irrationality could survive in a structured world. Dionysus the god of wine and festivals brings about chaos and barbarism. The introduction of Dionysus is of him and a flock of bacchus women returning to Thebes, the place of Dionysus’ birth, to punish the city for disrespecting his godly right. Pentheus is the appointed ruler of the city and main opponent of Dionysus. He tries to limit the spread of bacchus behavior, but Dionysus breaks free each time Pentheus captures him. Without the need of irrationality in a structured world society would tear apart. A world must consist of irrationality and rationality to have balanced society. Dionysus symbolizes the untamed irrationality that cannot be controlled despite the relentless efforts of Pentheus the civilized rationality. He becomes infatuated with apprehending Dionysus, but suffers a horrible death when Dionysus manipulates him into dressing up as a woman and retrieving the maenads from the wild and bring them back to civilization. This leads to his own mother, Agave, and the rest of the savage women of the mountains to tear him apart limb from limb. Dionysus watches his violent punishment play out and witnesses the once proud Pentheus become a …show more content…

Dionysus and the wild women called maenads retract to the mountainside and woods where they are free of the restraints of the city. They perform animalistic rituals and survive off the exhilaration of freedom from the chains of civilization. The mountain represents the wild irrationality, while the city is made up of laws and order. Pentheus and his people show the disgust they feel for the barbarism of the maenads in mountain. Pitying their condition as mountain women. Thebes, therefore, represents ordered rationality. This demonstrates the coexistence of irrationality and

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